Immelt, Obama, Indonesia

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/03/immelt-obama-indonesia

"Immelt Wants Obama to 'Sell Hard' When in Indonesia" is the headline of a Bloomberg News article on comments by General Electric chief executive Jeffrey Immelt. The article reports: "Immelt faulted the U.S. government for being too 'timid' on selling exports. He urged Obama to push the company's freight locomotives, telling him to 'sell hard.'"

Besides confirming my earlier posts that the "G" in GE stands for Government, this raises some questions. Isn't it a little demeaning to the office of president of the United States to have it transformed into a kind of traveling salesman? And shouldn't GE want its freight locomotives to be so good that customers will want them strictly on the basis of a comparison on the basis of price and quality, without having the decision skewed by political pressure?

by Ira Stoll  |  Mar 18, 2010 at 3:27 pm Related Topics:  General Electric, President Obama receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list